민군상생 복합타운 개발을 통한 지방도시 소멸위기 대응방안

The Republic of Korea is experiencing a sharp decline in population that cannot be found anywhere in the world. As of 2023, the accumulative birth rate is at 0.77 per capita. Currently, South Korea became a nation that has a birth rate less than 1 per capita, and this trend is expected to further go down as time goes on. As declining trends of birth rate and population began, a multitude of social and economic issues is emerging on the horizon. The epitome of these issues is decaying of local cities. As of 2023, there are 118 local cites out of 228 cities/counties/districts on the brink of decay, accounting for 52%. Approximately half of the cities are encountering with the risk of decay. The Military is not free from decline of population. Currently, military has positioned battalion sized troops per each city, county, and district to assure regional defense readiness posture. It will require the current level of troop strength at about 520,000 to sustain the current defense readiness posture, which means that military is required to recruit 200,000 service members on a yearly basis. However, if we think about the current trend of population trends, we can expect that a drastic decline in recruiting service members may appear, starting from 2037. Based on the assumption that the korea military will remain unchanged in terms of force structure, we can predict that there will be shortage of 100,000 new recruits, joining the military. A reformation in force structure is an urgent requirement to properly address these issues. Bottom line is both local cites and military are facing issues caused by sharp decline in population. To resolve these issues, counter measures will be needed in order to maintain and increase the level of local population while raising the efficiency of the system for running military units, simultaneously maintaining defense posture. Civilian and military complex town is the recommendation that can meet complicated demands. The civilian and military complex town can be achieved by developing urban area, where efforts are made to improve military installations and living environments in the process of integrated relocation of military units. To this end, scattered units are consolidated to enhance the efficiency of security operations and achieve integrity of operations. Simultaneously, we can reinvigorate local cities that are lagging behind during the process of development to improve living conditions. Furthermore, these measures will allow stable demands and job market galvanizing local cites, ultimately preventing decay of local areas.